Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 July 2021
194. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Education the number of children qualifying for the school transport remote area grant under each of the five distance categories in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38134/21]
View answerThe School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the 2020/21 school year more than 114,100 children, including over 14,700 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €224.7m in 2020.
The purpose of my Department's School Transport Scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest school.
An eligible child for whom no transport service is available may, following an application for transport within the prescribed time limits, receive a Remote Area Grant towards the cost of private transport arrangements
An application for transport must be submitted for each subsequent child requiring transport, even in cases where the family is already in receipt of the Remote Area Grant.
The grant, which is payable annually at the end of the school year, is generally based on the distance a family resides from their school of eligibility.
There are just over 1,700 families eligible for the Remote Area Grant for the 2020/21 school year. The breakdown of rates payable to those families is as follow;
|
Amount per day |
Number of families eligible 2020/21 School Year |
|
€1.30 |
381 |
|
€2.60 |
325 |
|
€3.30 |
210 |
|
€4.20 |
186 |
|
€5.10 |
607 |
The maximum daily allowance payable under the Remote Area Grant is €5.10 per day, regardless of the number of children from the same family, travelling to particular schools. For families with more than one eligible child the grant amount will be calculated by reference to the child with the highest attendance record.
